‘New form of government’ would be non-partisan

Coming November, registered voters in Morgan County will have the option of bringing in a “new form of government” at the local level, which would dissolve and replace it with seven council members. In addition, the dual-party system would be dissolved on a local level, as far as what is printed on the official ballots.

The candidates would still be able to endorse the candidates, but all of the county officers would be non-partisan.

“There will be more focus on individual qualifications,” said Dan Follett, a proponent of the measure.

Scott Rees, a Republican candidate for county commission, is also a proponent of the measure.

“There is an overwhelming support for non-partisan politics on a local level,” he said.

Clifton Jenkins, a Republican candidate for county commissioner, opposes the measure because of the “instigators'” motivation.

“They wanted to get rid of the commissioners and they couldn’t recall them,” he said, “and I don’t think that’s a good enough reason to have a new form of government.”

“I feel strongly about a two-party system,” Jenkins said. “Each party goes through quite a process to select the candidate. [Under the new measure], there would be no one to encourage people to vote.”

Follett and Rees observed a number of problems with the current form of government, problems which have arose because of growth in the county.

“It’s becoming a job that’s too big for three people part-time,” Follett said. “That’s why 9 out of 10 have resigned.”

“There is a tremendous burden on profession and family,” Rees said. “It is too big of a burden to bear.”

Follett said the group of individuals who contribted to the measure were concerned that Morgan County Commissioners are unable to attend all of the large volume of meetings to which they are invited, both the state and district meetings, as groups within the local government or influence.

“Morgan is absent as much as it is present,” he said.

Follett said there are many benefits of a 7-person council. He believes there would be less litigation expenses, and an increase in awareness of the community, which would decrease wild rumors.

“It will enhance revenue because there will be more people to review grants and loans that we didn’t even know were there,” he said.

Jenkins disagrees because of the cost of paying more commissioners.

“It will cost more money. You can’t have salaries for three commissioners, divide it by seven, and have the commissioners be happy,” he said.

Follett said a 7-person council would provide for better representation from all over the county because it would require five of the council members to live in each of the five council districts, districts which would parallel the five county school districts. The other two council members would be elected from the county at large.

Using the five school districts would also provide for more concise elections, as registered voters could vote on a council member in their district on the same ballot as they would vote for their school board representative. In addition, citizens would be able to vote for a second seat on the council, that of the candidates at large.

Jenkins said he doesn’t see the reason for instituting a 7-person commission.

“I see no reason why seven people could make better decisions than three. It wouldn’t make any difference how many men were there if all of them had 9 to 5 jobs,” he said.

If the measure is voted into action by the people in November, the commission elected would dissolve in late-January, when a second election, solely for the new 7-person council, would result. The three commissioners, in addition to other willing candidates, would have to file again, this time as nonpartisans. If necessary, primary elections would be held.

For the first election, some of the candidates would be running for 2-year terms and some for 4-year terms in order to allow for stagnated terms. That way only half of the council seats would be elected upon in a given election year.

Jenkins said there would be a problem trying to get enough people to run.

“People could get elected without opposition and without party support,” he said.

The council, once elected, would vote on a chairperson and a vice-chairperson to lead the group.

Jenkins said he was concerned about whether the county administrator would be an elected official.

“If he is elected, they he can’t be fired,” he said.

However, the measure provides a provision of recall if the council member(s) are not fulfilling their job adequately, as observed by the public.

Randy Sessions, county leader of the Republican Party, declined comment for this article. He preferred to reserve comment until after the rush of the convention is over.